Deer Park holds Settlers Day

Growing up in Deer Park, Myron Rasmussen spent a fair number of summer Saturdays watching the annual Settlers Day parade prance down the streets of his town.

He was there as a boy on break from Pineview School. He was there as a teenage kid: Deer Park High, class of 1952.

And, after nearly 30 years away, he was back again this weekend, settled in the shade off Crawford Avenue, waiting for the familiar scene to unfold.

“The only thing different is the dress and the number of people,” observed Rasmussen, 71, who returned home with his wife, Arletta, 72, a few years ago to care for his mother.

Indeed, there was a certain immutable quality to the event that organizers claim is the “oldest continuous community celebration” in the state of Washington.

Every year since 1922, Deer Park residents have assembled their strongest boys, their prettiest girls, their shiniest tractors and their most honored dignitaries and marched them down the city’s streets for all to admire.

Afterward, they’ve all congregated under the shady trees at Mix Park for a communal picnic that’s part family reunion, part street fair, part community supper.

And Saturday’s day-long gala was expected to be no different, said Julie Prufer, who organized the event.

More than 110 entries were registered for the parade, and dozens of vendors were expected to set up shop in the park, selling everything from pork ribs to sausage dogs.

“It’s kind of gotten a little bit commercialized, but it’s still just a community gathering,” Prufer said.

And it’s a gathering that still appeals to people of all ages in this city of 3,100, where more than a quarter of folks trace their roots to German ancestry, according to U.S. census records.

By 9:30 a.m. Saturday, hundreds of local residents and visitors had claimed every scrap of shade along the parade route. The crowd included stroller-bound toddlers, strutting teenagers and grandmothers sheltered beneath umbrellas.

For the next two hours, they all braved simmering heat to view a steady stream of custom cars, rodeo princesses and eager politicians.

“It gives everybody an excuse to line up on the street,” said Tom Smith, 33, of Baker City, Ore., who grew up in Deer Park.

Smith and his wife, Liz, 31, brought their children, Dustin, 5, Kiera, 4, and KatieAnne, 18 months, to relive a tradition Tom Smith remembers well.

“I’ve seen it many, many times,” he said.

There’s something comforting in that kind of continuity, said Myron Rasmussen, who lived with his family all over the world but is happy now back on Crawford Avenue.

“It’s great here; I love it,” he said. “It’s got so much more individual contact, so much more closeness.”